The Experimental Archaeology Course

Since 1982 all first-year undergraduates coming to the Institute have
travelled out of London to camp for several nights during the
Experimental Archaeology Course (formerly known as the Primitive
Technology Course: and still affectionately referred to as ‘Prim Tech’).
This was started by Peter Drewett in a field adjacent to his house and
has been located at a number of other locations since then including
West Farleigh Hall and Michelham Priory. Since September 2005 this has
taken place at West Dean. The course gives students a better
understanding of what remains they can expect to find at archaeological
sites and what they can reasonably interpret about the behaviour of
people in the past. The student society (SAS) and staff work together to
provide an intensive but informal context for the new undergraduates to
get to know each other at the very start of their degree. Experimental
activities include: assessing what factors influence the survival of
charred seeds; studying the choice of bone working techniques in the
production of Egyptian bone ‘labels’; studying the properties of tree
bark (bast) in textile production; using deer butchery to reconsider the
evidence of hunting and resource use at Boxgrove; and a project
developed as a result of the 2007 excavations at West Dean (see below)
to investigating potential activities leading to the production of
fire-cracked flint and its role in British Bronze Age pottery.